Reade

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Real

Rowerson (1914); Gold Gauze Veil (1927).
Reade, Charles (1814-84), English novel-
ist and playwright, studied at Lincoln's Inn
Fields, settled in London and spent most of
his life in that city, though frequently travel-
ing abroad. His first literary work, in which
he collaborated with Tom Taylor, was Masks
and Faces (1852), which he later turned into
the novel Peg Woffington. His masterpiece,
The Cloister and the Hearth, an historical
romance of the fifteenth century, dealing viv-
idly and brilliantly with European life and
manners of that period, was produced in

Charles Reade

1861. Other noteworthy works are Art, a one-
act play which still flourishes as Nance Old-
field; It is Never Too Late to Mend (1856),
a realistic exposure of jail abuses in England
and Australia; Hard Cash (1863), a bold
handling of problems concerning insane asy-
lums; Griffith Gaunt (1866), later drama-
tized as Jealousy; and Foul Play (1869),
written in collaboration with Dion Boucicault
and also dramatized. He also wrote books of
less value but containing many striking pas-

Reading, city, Pennsylvania. Because of
its location within a few miles of one of the
world's largest coal deposits, and its accessi-
bility to the seaboard, Reading is an import-
ant industrial center. Industries include:
hosiery, door knobs, fabrics, steel castings,
children's shoes, menthol cough drops, silk
underwear, bricks, goggles, stone and lime-
stone quarries. Albright College and the en-
gineering department of the Pennsylvania
State College are situated here; p. 110,568.

Reading was laid out in 1748 by Thomas and
Richard Penn, and was named for Reading,
England, the home of their father, William
Penn.

Reading, municipal, parliamentary, and
co. borough, cap. of Berkshire, England. The
splendid Benedictine abbey, founded in 1121
by Henry i., who was buried here, is repre-
sented by considerable ruins and a fine gate-
way, restored in 1861, and surrounded by
public gardens. The university extension col-
lege, affiliated with Oxford, was opened in
1892. Cloth making was formerly the staple
industry. The town is now a market for ag-
ricultural produce, and has important indus-
trial establishments including biscuit works,
seed warehouses, iron foundries, engine
works, malt works, and breweries; p. 97,153.

Reading, Viscount Erleigh Rufus Dan-
iel Isaacs, First Earl of (1860-1935), English
jurist and public official, of Jewish extraction,
was born in London. He was elected to the
House of Commons in 1904, became Solicitor
General in 1910, and Attorney-General in the
same year. In 1913 he became Lord Chief
Justice of England. He was the head of the
Anglo - French Commission to the United
States in 1915 to arrange for a Government
loan to the Allies, and early in 1918 was ap-
pointed British High Commissioner and spe-
cial Ambassador to the United States. In
January, 1921, he was appointed Viceroy and
Governor-General of India, serving until
1926. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
in first National Government, 1931.

Readjusters, or Refunders, a political
faction in Virginia which worked for the re-
pudiation of the State debt between 1878 and
1885.

Reagan, John Henninger (1818-1905),
during the last months of the Confederacy
acted as secretary of the treasury. Captured
with President Davis in 1865, he was con-
fined at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor,
where, foreseeing the radical legislation that
was to come, he wrote his famous 'Fort War-
ren7 letter advising the Texans to forestall
such legislation by conferring upon the negro
certain civil rights. This brought him for a
time into disfavor. From 1875, however, he
was sent continuously to the House of Rep-
resentatives until 1887, when he was elected
to the Senate. In his congressional career he
was distinguished for his business ability, the
'Reagan Interstate Commerce Bill* still form-
ing the basis of such legislation.

Real, in civil law, signifies 'of or relating to
i property movable or immovable/